Ebbing Tides
by MoonPaper
Summary: When Legolas and Gimli set out to the Blessed Land, they encounter something unusual- a storm. And amidst all that, Legolas finds himself stuck on an island with a mysterious creature taking care of him. But there are a lot of things on the island that ar
1. Chapter 1

Ebbing Tides

By: MoonPaper

Summary: When Legolas and Gimli set out to the Blessed Land, they encounter something unusual- a storm. And amidst all that, Legolas finds himself stuck on an island with a mysterious creature taking care of him. But there are a lot of things on the island undiscovered....

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"Legolas! Jump! Jump for your life! NO! Legolas!"

Gimli, Son of Gloin, looked up at the deck from the wet safety of the cabins below, and watched in horror as a large wave swallowed their ship. Though it bobbed up again, being made by elven hands, the prince of Mirkwood was nowhere to be seen. With a stricken expression, Gimli offered a prayer for his friend, hoping he was still alive and beached somewhere. But meanwhile, he had to survive. 

Nearby, under the frothing waves, there was a swish of a tail, the silver sheen of scales, then wings- finlike wings, gliding through the water, which was streaked with long, jet black hair, flowing like oil. Grey eyes the colour of seamist looked at the akward, unmoving body before her, and she swum around it,curious as if she had never seen such a figure before. But when she saw the pale marble white face, and the lips with a certain shade of blue, she knew what must be done, and held on to the collar of his tunic tightly, before givng a powerful flick of her tail and pulling him gracefully through the water, as if he weighed nothing.

All night, she worked hard and pulled him up the beach and covered him with leaves. After making sure he was alright, she went under and caught a few fish, making sure that it wasn't poisonous. With a wrapping of leaves, she left it by his side and swam off at the first sign of the sun. From afar, she watched, fascinated, as the figure brought a hand to his forehead and groaned. Her 'wings' twitched involuntarily as bright emerald orbs opened, and as the sandy hand came up to rub them. It was apparent that he was remembering last night's events, and trying to orient himself. 

Legolas was fairly confused. He was on an island, but he was too far in to have been beached by the sae herselof. He looked at the horizon and saw nothing, nothing except for the sun and more of the sea. But marks on the sand confirmed his suspicions. he wasn't beached, someone had dragged him onto the land. But the marks showed his body- that was obvious, and also, a long, heavy dent in the sand, with a few handprints. He frowned as he bent down to examine them. Whoever had rescued him had dragged him/herself and had dragged him with themself. As if... he took in breath sharply as tales of sea-elves were remembered. Elves of the ocean, who had lived in it for so long that they lost their ability to walk, and instead, grew tails to swim throught he waters.

Then a scene of last night was made available to him as he looked around. The creature- he was sure it was female, with a long tail, longer than her torso, and the six long fins on her back that could've been mistaken for wings. He had thought he had died, and an angel had come to take him to the Valar. But apparently, he was mistaken. He spied the package of fish and looked out at the ocean. _It sounds crazy, but it doesn't seem like anybody else is here. _He looked at it's blue depths and waded out. Cupping his mouth, he shouted. "Thank you!!" There was nothing, but however, he had the feeling that the water-elf had heard his gratitude.

From behind a rock, the mermaid's mouth curled up in a smile unconsciously. He was funny, at least to her. She didn't know what he was talking about- she spoke in Quenya, not in Sindarin. But she knew it was a shout of gratitude. When he went back to the inner beach, she watched as he disappeared in the trees for a while and came out with dead twigs, and as he formed a fire to cook the fish over. She grinned, and with a small splash, disappeared under the ocean surface, off to get maybe some of the wonderful clams. As she surfaced, this time near her cave, she struggled to hold the clams as she put them in a basket of seaweed. Then she smiled as she passed some of the tree's overhanging branches, and she took some of the nuts and put them in, swimming back to the direction of the beautiful elf she had rescued.

A/N: HOW WAS IT??? Ok, seriously, I _crave _reviews, and usually, I decide whether to continue a story or not through the number of reviews I recieve on it. So, I'm REALLLLLLLLLY, _REALLLLLLY_, hoping that you would review me. Please? 


	2. Chapter 2

Ebbing Tides

By: MoonPaper

Summary: When Legolas and Gimli set out to the Blessed Land, they encounter something unusual- a storm. And amidst all that, Legolas finds himself stuck on an island with a mysterious creature taking care of him. But there are a lot of things on the island undiscovered....

A/N: Wow. Wow-oh-WOW. I didn't know I would recieve so many reviews! Well, for some, it may not be many, but, to me it is, and I'm REA~LLLLLY thankful. *bows* Thank you VERY much. And, well, sorry for the reallllllly late upload. I'll try to do it more often now.

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When the mermaid arrived at her destination, she was careful to hide behind some rocks. But when she peered through, there was nobody on the beach, and there was a large pile of wood under some trees. She looked on, curious, and hesitatingly. To swim in and drop the bag, or not to swim in and drop the bag? Being cautious, she chose the former. And wait she did, until the elf came out of the forest with large leaves on his back. She watched in rapt fascination as he piled them all on a wooden frame, sheltered by a few boulders and trees. Fascinated that she was, she didn't notice her bag starting to float away, until too late, ad she gave an involuntary yelp of surprise.

Legolas was just finishing up his temporary shelter, when he heard a small sound- a yelp, most likely, and he turned around to see, just in time, a hand appear behind some rocks to catch a clump of seaweed. He frowned, and in a flash, was above the rock, looking down at his saviour- the water elf. He took in breath sharply, the same time she did, and they looked at each other, and sized each other up. She was looking up at him with large grey eyes half covered by long black hair. He was looking down at her through emerald green orbs shaded by long blonde hair. The water-elf hesitated, before giving him the bag full of foodstuff. "I... It is for you." Legolas nodded his thanks, and switched to her language. "Thank you... for saving me, and for the food. I am grateful." He smiled at her and took the bag.

He gestured at the small shelter he was making. "I am building a place to sleep in. Do you know whether there are other elves here? Or mortals?" She shook her head. "Quon lives in the water, in an underground cave. Quon do not go inland." He nodded his thanks. "Did you save anyone else other than me?" She shook her head. He looked down. "I had a friend with me.... Are you alone here? Or are there other water- elves?" She shook her head. "Quon is alone because she left her sisters, and they have no care that she is gone." Legolas nodded. "Do you know where the Blessed Land is?" She nodded. "It is in the north. Very far away... for Water-elf, it will take several months to swim there. Forest-elf must not try. You will have to wait for help." He looked t her, and he finally realized that she talked in third person... like a child. "I am Legolas. You do not need to call me Forest-Elf." She nodded, and looked at the bag in his hand. 

The two of them stood/floated there in awkwardness. She shifted her weight, and he smiled down at her. "Well, thank you, then." He turned to walk away, when she looked at him curiously, before dragging herself on the beach. She winced as sand went under her scales, but still worked to drag herself there. To her shock, warm hands held her shoulders and dragged her onto a large leaf on which she could slide on. She smiled gratefully up at Legolas. "What are you doing?" She asked, as he began to use two stones as flints, and as he skewered the fish and gutted them with his knife.

"I'm going to cook it, of course." He looked at her quizzically. "You mean you don't cook your food?" She shook her head, and jumped back as fire leaped onto the dead twigs. "What?" She reached out to touch it, but Legolas held her hand. "Don't! It's very hot, it will burn you..." At her blank face, he grimaced. _How am I to explain?_ He looked at it. "Erh... it will injure you, very painful... Like blowfish poison." She looked at the fire in amazement and in wonder. "Ah!" She inched away from it, and looked as he put the fish onto the fire. "Why did you leave your sisters?" She shrugged. "We... _Quon_ is different from them... Quon finds it nicer to be away from what they do. What about you? Are you going to stay here?" He shook his head. "I do not know. Somehow, I have to get to the Blessed Land. But here, the calling is not very strong, since I am closer to it. But _somehow _I need to get there." Quon nodded and looked as he flipped the fish...

"This is very nice!" She said, between mouthfulls of fish. He watched her and nodded, though his thoughts still wandered, especially on how to get to the Blessed Land. While he as thinking, suddenly, there was a clam stcuck in front of his face. "This is clam put under the warm sand! It's already open!" He nodded and smiled at the Water-Elf's curiousity and fearlessness of him, a land- dweller. He figured that maybe htat was why she left her sisters, after all, Water-Elves were known for their fear of land dwellers, as they were curious of their underwater counterparts. He frowned and shook his head. The next day, he would walk more inland and explore. There might be other land-dwellers on the island. But he would return, he thought, looking at the bright-eyed mermaid eating the cooked food.

A/N: Well.... *dodges rotten vegetables* I know I'm really late on this... *ducks* But, I hope you're satisfied with this chapter, but I'll try to make it longer, next time. Don't worry, this won't turn out like little mermaid.... I'm not sure that it'll have a happy ending, and she's certainly not gonna turn human! Oooops! I've said too much, but anyway, till next time! I'll try to update faster. Tell me if this is unsatisfactory, cos I think it is...

Ps, for those who are also reading my Rayearth fic, i've written it down up to chapter 4.... It's just about when I can type it out. *grins & runs*

MoonPaper

  



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